Anthony was asked Thursday night if he believes this is the strongest
team in the league, and despite the Knicks' recent slump, he answered
emphatically.

"By far," he said, as quoted by Berman. "I have been on good teams before. But as far as being a complete
team from top to bottom, this is the best team I've been a part of."

"So far so good,"
Amar'e Stoudemire agreed, as
quoted by Al Iannazzone of the New York
Daily News. "This year we've been playing extremely well. We're at the
top of our division right now, which is where we want to be. If we keep playing
the way we have been defensively we have a great chance to win our division and
hopefully go from there."

But the Knicks
may not be at the top of their division for long. They have a 3:30 matchup with
the surging Nets at Madison Square Garden on Monday and Brooklyn trails New
York by just three games in the loss column.

"They beat us the
last two times," Nets swingman Joe Johnson said after beating the Hawks on
Friday night. "We owe them."

In other Knicks
news:

• As
I wrote yesterday, Carmelo Anthony may not be the "most valuable" player in
New York in the sense that the Knicks are still a good team when he's not
around. When Brook Lopez is out for the Nets, that's a different story: "Perhaps the biggest indicator that Lopez is more
valuable has been what the team has done in his absence. While he sat with a
sprained foot in December, the Nets were just 2-5 with wins over the lowly
Raptors and Magic... The Knicks are 3-4 without Anthony, including a win over the
Miami Heat."

• Newsday's
Al Iannazzone believes that Iman
Shumpert may have been the missing piece for the Knicks: "Despite leading the Atlantic Division, the Knicks have
missed Shumpert's versatility and defense. There were several reasons they
started fast -- which has been a rarity this season -- in their 102-87 victory
over Detroit on Thursday in London. Woodson put Shumpert's return at the top of
his list... 'I'm happy as hell to have him back,' Woodson said. 'He brings so
much energy and his teammates feed off it. I thought he answered the bell loud
and clear. That's just the sign of a kid who's tough. Rook is a tough kid.
Mentally he's tough and physically he's tough. I didn't expect anything
different. His being anxious to get back out on the floor and his hard work put
him in the position he was in to be successful.'"